Biomedical Research

Objective: This study aims to investigate Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression and Microvessel Density (MVD) in invasive cervical cancer and determine the malignant degrees of cervical adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma through protein level detection.

Methods: Fifty cases of patients with cervical squamous carcinoma and 40 cases of patients with cervical adenocarcinoma were recruited from 2010 to 2017. MMP-2 protein expression and MVD in the tumor sections were analysed using immunohistochemistry method.

Results: MVD in patients with cervical adenocarcinoma was higher than that in patients with squamous carcinoma (P<0.05). MMP-2 expression in patients with cervical squamous carcinoma (+++) was significantly higher than that in patients with cervical adenocarcinoma (P<0.001). Analysis of the clinicpathological features indicated that MMP-2 expression differed between patients with cervical squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The positive value of MVD in squamous carcinoma stromal cells was significantly higher than that in cancer cells (P<0.05). MMP-2 was positively expressed at similar intensities in the stromal cells and cancer cells of patients with cervical adenocarcinoma (P>0.05).

Conclusion: The high MMP-2 expression and MVD in patients with cervical adenocarcinoma indicated that the malignant degree of adenocarcinoma was higher than that of squamous carcinoma. The findings indicated that the patients underwent tumor angiogenesis, invasion, or metastasis and thus should be further treated.

Author(s): Chun-Zhi Yu, Xian-Li Zhao
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